l'ecole forestiere deb bahres. Ill 



those of the common P. sylvestris of France and of Germany, planted 

 comparatively near them. 



" Third, their cones are almost always arranged in whorls of three, 

 four, and five ; according to the same author, in the sylvestris they 

 are often by twos. I have many times, in all the lots of sylvestris in 

 the school, counted as many cones. 



" I have constantly found in all, however different they may be, 

 some individuals with one, two, or three cones, very rarely with four ; 

 nay more, this variety is often to be found on the same tree, some 

 branches bearing single cones, whilst on others they are grouped by 

 twos or threes. I have also noticed that this varies decidedly on one 

 tree in different years, apparently according to whether the flowering 

 has taken place during favourable weather or not. This characteristic 

 then is of no use whatever. 



" Fourth, the projecting part of the scales form a more decided 

 pyramid in the P. rubra, and the lozenge formed by its base has its 

 greatest diameter in the vertical direction. 



" In the P. sylvestris, on the contrary, the greatest diameter of the 

 lozenge, according to the same author, is horizontal. 



" I have made, with a view to recognise the characteristics, nume- 

 rous examinations of the cones coming from different trees belonging 

 to the two supposed species, and here is what I discovered — first, 

 that the projection of the scales, though variable in both, formed a 

 much less decided pyramid in the cones of the P. rubra than in those 

 of the P. sylvestris, which is precisely the contrary of what the author 

 says ; second, that in the same lot, either of P. sylvestris or of P. 

 rubra, and sometimes on the same tree, the greatest diameter was 

 sometimes in a vertical and sometimes in a horizontal direction, so 

 that this characteristic is useless as a means of specific verification. 



" Fifth, Bosc and De Candolle give as characteristic to their Scotch 

 fir, or P. rubra, that it has the young sprouts red. 



" Now the most freely planted lots of the red pine of the north in 

 my school are, on the contrary, distinguished by the tender green of 

 their sprouts in the spring. I have besides amongst my lots a con- 

 siderable number of Scotch firs coming directly from Scotland. The 

 trees in it are extremely varied in character. One finds among them 

 types of all the P. sylvestris possible, except the specimens with red 

 sprouts, which, far from being in the majority, are only met with as 

 rare exceptions ; the great mass have green shoots. 



" Besides, if Miller had recognised this as a characteristic of his P. 

 ruihra, he would have given it, and he says nothing of it. It is not 



